Table 2. Political Will in 8 Case Studies of How Policy Addressed Health Equity .

Case Study Description	+/- For Health Equity	Path Dependency	Staying in/Winning Government	Political Philosophy: Individualist/Collectivist Construction of Populations Targeted	Primary framing: Biomedical/Economic/Social/Behavioural /Colonial	Interests of Elites	Role of Advocacy
PPL	Positive	First law on topic so broke path dependency	Women’s votes	Collectivist, Universal for women	Gender equality, Economic	Industry successfully argued that payment should be responsibility of government Industry top up voluntary	Crucial influence and advocates were listened to
NTER	Negative	Continued colonial domination, pathologising of Aboriginal people and communities	White Australia votes and appeasing right wing parties	Remote Aboriginal communities, Individualist approach, Targeting Aboriginal men as perceived perpetrators of child abuse	Economic colonial, biomedical	Federal government interest in having power over Northern Territory affairs and Aboriginal communities	Advocates strong but ignored. Some positive impact eg, mandatory sexual abuse checks dropped, and primary healthcare funding was increased
TPP Agreement	Negative	Continued neo-liberal economic focus	Economic growth will win votes	Global neoliberalism, Growing media interest	Economic	Corporate power pro-trade agreements	Advocates vocal, small wins on defense of tobacco control and access to medicines
HC in Playford	Negative	Closure reinforced existing low socio-economic status of area	Provision of jobs and keeping unemployment low will win votes	Removal of subsidies for automotive manufacturing to support free trade, Ex-Holden workers focus rather than whole of deprived community	Economic	State government perceived political risk from rising unemployment and not being seen to act, Disinterest in a lower socio-economic status are with persistent disadvantage	Advocacy weak other than trade unions for rights of workers
PHC Policy	Mixed	Medicare national health insurance scheme continued but still unequal access	Popular appeal of Medicare maintained no co-payments	Collectivist in part, Whole of population but gaps evident in coverage	Primarily biomedical	Medical power maintained general practitioner fee-for-service focus rather than more comprehensive PHC	Medical advocacy strongest, very weak lobby for CPHC except Aboriginal community controlled
CTG	Mixed	Colonialism continued	Bi-partisan support for aspiration and accountability to parliament through annual report on health, education and employment targets	Targeted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Constructed as a problem to be solved; contestation between self-determination and assimilation	Colonial, social behavioural	Top-down political and bureaucratic control of resources	Policy resulted from very strong and well-organised advocacy from multiple groups that understood evidence on social determinants of health and legacy of colonialism but only partial take up by government
WSCD	Mixed	Break with previous planning system and historically limited infrastructural investment in the West of the city (as opposed to the East where the CBD and coast are)	Response to population pressure and growing inequity between west of Sydney and the area nearer CBD. Pressure on traffic, housing prices leading to community dissatisfaction. Increasing number of marginal seats	Collectivist in part, Population of western Sydney to build on ‘strengths’ of the region. Individualist in part because strategy emphasizes entrepreneurialism	Economic, (quality of life links to social)	Airport and globally competitive city region desired by elites Government led strategy with emphasis on global business forces for ongoing delivery leveraging off government investment	Internal government advocacy, limited civil society + social sector engagement
NBN	Mixed	Break with privatization of telecoms to instigate a (temporary) renationalization of infrastructure, Some positives for equity – eg, universal wholesale pricing, government trying to ensure there were cheaper entry level connections, focus on rural and remote in rollout	Originally, delivering effective internet. Became about reducing cost of project to tax payers	Became less collectivist, Whole of population but significant differences in coverage	Primarily economic	Business demand	Consumer and community advocacy on inclusion, rural and remote issues, and affordability, but little effect on policy implementation

Abbreviations: PPL, paid parental leave; NTER, Northern Territory Emergency Response; TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement; HC, Holden factory; PHC, Primary Healthcare; CTG, close the gap; WSCD, Western Sydney City Deal; NBN, National Broadband Network; CPHC, Comprehensive Primary Health Care; CBD, Central Business District.